S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Dev Shuts Down?

Reports are swirling this morning that Ukraine-based developer GSC Game World, the team behind the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchise, has closed.

Ukrainian news website UkraNews first reported GSC was shut down by owner Sergei Grigorovich and the closure was announced to the team today. The official Twitter account for GSC later denied the report, however the tweet was deleted soon after. The studio issued a statement to Rock Paper Shotgun saying they have no comments at this time.

I hope this is not true, I would love to buy the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games once I get a computer that can run them. And I heard that S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 was coming to consoles! These games deserve an increased audience.

The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series has been one of my favorites of all time, sure it had some flaws but no other game has nailed an atmosphere and setting so perfectly like GSC has, I hope the best for the staff and I hope the franchise lives on with capable hands to do the game justice.